Reflections
by annilra
Summary: Ichigo/Rukia - Of death and broken hearts...


bleach drabble  
ichigo/rukia  
of death and broken hearts...

note : no real spoilers, some Soul Society arc hints, and sigh, i do not own bleach (150 and 496 words)

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**Reflections - Part One of Five**

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_"So, what happens when I die?"_

_"Huh?"_

_"I just want to know what really happens when I die."_

_"Eh? I told you before what happens when someone dies."_

_"Yeah, I know... But that's 'someone'. Will it be different for me?"_

_"Well, don't we suddenly feel special?"_

_"Oh, save it. Just tell me already."_

_"Seriously? Hmmm... when you die, a shinigami will appear to give you a soul burial. And then, you'll go to Soul Society, I guess."_

_"You're saying that you don't actually know for sure?"_

_"Okay, fine. Frankly, I can't really confirm what happens when you die. As much as it pains me to say this, there's really never been anyone quite like you."_

_"I see..."_

_"What, that's it?"_

_"Well, there is something else I want to know."_

_"I knew it... We don't have all day, you know. Just spit it out already."_

_"So... what happens when_ you _die?"_

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By the time Ichigo finally turned eighteen, he was pretty confident that he would never get his heart broken. After all, one had to be in love before that could happen and he was definitely, positively, absolutely certain that he was _not_ in love.

Never mind what everyone else around him is saying.

Sure, he loved his family and a few select friends, but strictly in the familial or platonic sense. And yes, he was even close to a few girls. He was especially close to one particular girl but that was no big deal.

They were just friends, really.

He might let her ruthlessly terrorize him when no one else was allowed to get away with even _looking_ at him wrong. Give her a small space in his room when he was well-known for being positively zealous in guarding his highly-valued personal space. And let her readily into his inner circle without even a whimper of protest.

And all that, just within the first few months that they've known each other. He, who took _years_ to make new friends.

...But that didn't mean that he was in love, right?

No, he couldn't be. He wouldn't be foolish enough to fall in love, knowing all the heartbreak and insanity that waits when the love goes away. Just look at his father, for example.

He was almost certain that his father was not that weird in his younger days, before falling in love and losing his beloved mother. After all, he was pretty sure that doctors had to go for psychological tests to make sure they were sane. (But maybe they just never bothered to make them go for updated checks after the initial ones...?)

And despite being raised by Isshin, he was sure that he was still pretty normal. Which just further validates his belief that his heart was not yet in danger.

And so Ichigo drifted along in life, satisfied but curiously discontent, armed with that very conviction.

But on that dark, stormy fateful day when the ultimate battle between the shinigamis and hollows came to a bitter end on the high cliffs of Seireitei, he finally realised how wrong he was. How he had been so blind to something that had just been staring at him right in the face all along.

He _was_ in love.

In love with the shinigami that had awakened his latent power, the girl that had crashed into his life and his heart with no warning, the one person that had changed his whole world. He was in love with _Rukia_.

That was the only way to explain the almost unbearable pain radiating in his chest as he stared at her fallen, broken body in a pool of her own blood, merging with the falling rain.

All his barriers down, he could only drop to his knees, gathering her small, still, wet and _cold_ frame close.

And cried as he felt his heart shatter into a hundred million pieces.

~tbc~

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Just something that i wrote a long time ago and posted to my lj and only now decided to post it here. I still can't manage to write long fics, so this is more of a series of drabbles than anything else. Hope you like...? :)


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